HomePod Firmware Suggests iPhone 8 Will Be Able to Scan Your Face Even While Device is Lying Flat

[kkamann]

Why is all this info in the buried in the FIRMWARE for the HomePod? I get that it's running a full version of iOS and I can see how it would make sense that iPhone 8/ATV/etc info wasn't scrubbed from iOS version. But that wasn't the case. It was found in the FIRMWARE which I'm guessing is very specific and much more lean than the operating system itself.

What's the difference between firmware and the iOS as it relates to the homepod?

 

[576316]

That's the question? Touch id is not in the display, nor is it on the back. So were is it? Million dollar question?

It’s gone. Apple engineers have suggested that face recognition is quicker and more secure. I’m pretty sure I just read that on here somewhere. There’s no elegant way of building TouchID in so they’ll just scrap it.

 

[9594864]

They said they hate leaks because 1: they want the consumer to be surprised 2: They don't want the hard work of their people leaking out so they can have a glory moment. If you think about it, those are ******** reasons. Apple (like all other companies) care for profits. Do you really think they would invest so much money in secrecy just so their employees can have their moment in the spotlight?
The only reason they are investing so much in secrecy is because so they can leak it themselves. they strategically leak rumors so people would keep talking about it en so people have realistic expectations on what the new iPhone will look like, and how it would function. If other people leak information, they lose the advantage of leaking information themselves at the right moment.

Ode to the conspiracy theorists.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Well, I’m still skeptical, but we’ll see - maybe FaceID (I’d put money on that being the name) won’t be a step back in usability from TouchID.

Doubtful.

Cannot conceive a way where FaceID works in a retail environment, while driving, or at night or another application where the phone wouldnt have my face in view.

 

[JohnApples]

Facescan to log on....gonna be tough for teenagers with a ever changing pattern of zits. It is scary as it gets ever more personal just to log on. What next?; face, finger, voice, and retina ALL required? When is too much just too much?....happy just typing in a code.

With the way facial recognition tech works, having an "ever changing pattern of zits" wouldn't affect your ability to unlock you phone. Unless it's one serious acne problem that begins to warp your entire facial features.

If you believe it's too much, you are always welcome to just type in a passcode as well. So I'm not really sure what your complaint is about?

 

[Piggie]

I would imagine the largest problem would be, you can make it pretty secure with your face, but it would be quite fussy about changes to your face, so you relax it a bit so it can cope with changes and then it's not so secure.

Not so much for more typical guys. But you look at the difference between a girl got up from bed in the morning, and the same person, all makeup and hair done for a party. Totally different look.


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/10/15/article-2458623-18BBD21300000578-186_634x400.jpg


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...vers-plain-women-transformed-cover-girls.html


yes?

 

[dojoman]

The idea it wouldn't be able to unlock with a picture or through a camera picture and when it comes to the police? pretty sure they can't do anything like that by law without your permission

however if you have nothing to hide it shouldn't matter. Don't get in trouble..simple

No, not picture. You only need milliseconds to unlock so one merely has to point the camera in your face to unlock the phone. Its obviously a lot harder to get someone's fingerprint and needs the owners interaction to unlock with TouchID but face unlock requires neither.

 

[The Game 161]

No, not picture. You only need milliseconds to unlock so one merely has to point the camera in your face to unlock the phone. Its obviously a lot harder to get someone's fingerprint and needs the owners interaction to unlock with TouchID but face unlock requires neither.

This is the point though apple are said to make it so thats not possible. The fact it has to use the current phone and your actual task looking at it to work.

I'm sure it won't be this simple

 

[Pfunstuff]

If they got rid of Touch ID it would NEVER come back. It's the most absurd suggestion.
[doublepost=1502042471][/doublepost]
They aren't concerns, they're facts

Thank you. I'm glad someone else understands this. If Touch ID is removed, it will not come back. Removing Touch ID only to reintroduce it a year or two later would make no sense and would be as if Apple were admitting failure. We couldn't manage to get it under the display this year but maybe in a year or two, so we will just remove it in the meantime. Anyone who knows how Apple works knows they are a company that will gladly wait to bring something to the market when they can be assured it will provide the best experience for the consumer. Apple is often not first to bring new concepts to the market, especially lately. They'll wait until they can do it better then release their take on it. They won't get rid of Touch ID if they don't have a replacement that is as good as or better than the current offering.

While on the topic of this concept, the headphone jack will NOT make an appearance again in a future iPhone. Please people, stop mentioning it. It won't happen. We are moving toward a wireless future with the goal likely being for phone manufacturers to want to seal their phones up air tight. I understand the AirPods will not work for everyone, but at least give them a try. They aren't perfect. They can certainly be improved upon. However, as someone who loathes EarPods, these things are a night and day difference for me. Sound quality is better, in my opinion, and I've never felt them begin to fall out even once. After about two minutes of them being in my ears, I forget I even have them in. They are one of the best Apple products I've purchased in a while. I apologize for digressing from the topic of this article.

TLDR: If Touch ID is removed, it's not coming back. The headphone jack was removed, and it will not come back. Give AirPods a try. They can be tested at an Apple Store, which I personally did, and returned if you aren't satisfied, which I didn't do. I kept mine and love them.

 

[Aston441]

I'm really hoping Apple opens this precognitive device to developers; I'd love a magic 8 ball app.

"HomePod, how long will I live?"

View attachment 711811

"…"

Leaked iPhone 8 image

 

[Seoras]

I’m still kinda sceptical about FaceID, but that’s largely due to how much I love TouchID. It’s a high bar Apple has set for itself.

It just occurred to me though that *maybe* we’ve been looking at this backwards. Could be that keeping TouchID was the backup plan for Apple, in case FaceID couldn’t be made to work well enough. And dropping TouchID has more to do with FaceID being a success than with problems adding TouchID to the iPhone 8. Maybe. I just hope it really is good enough, so we’ll see…

I also suspect that FaceID won’t be a background thing, and will need a (virtual) home button press for it to trigger. If so (and if it works properly) that would make it feel indistinguishable from TouchID. Or even better than TouchID, if you have wet hands etc.

Well said.
As much as I love, and have become reliant on, TouchID it's not perfect.
If I do DIY work around my property and my fingers get rough it stops working. It's annoying.
I hope I'm not the one who reports on FaceID ability to continue working after a facial injury.
We do tend to look after that part of our anatomy better.

As for Apple Pay and TouchID I highly recommend an Apple Watch.
Some very nice S1's going very cheap now thanks for the pending S3 announcement.

 

[Analog Kid]

Uh, where have you been the last 10 years? Apple Maps? Apple Music? Apple Watch? Heck even the OS on the first iPhone was barely functional.

You're confusing imperfect with half baked. Nothing is released with out room for improvement. Apple Watch was remarkably functional on the first release, thus its continued popularity with few substantive changes. The first iPhone was enormously impactful and while it's improved over the years you're in a lonely group calling it "barely functional" for the time. Maps wasn't any less functional when it rolled out than Google Maps or Mapquest were in times past, and Apple brought some innovation to the space as well. Mapping the globe is an enormous undertaking that needs to be taken incrementally. I haven't used Apple Music, so can't speak to it personally, but it's giving the established players a run for their money so I'd be surprised if it is truly half baked.

What's surprising is that it's not that hard to think of a handful of times Apple did release something that just wasn't well thought out, wasn't ready for prime time, and couldn't be improved quickly enough to succeed, so I'm not sure why you went with mainstream complaints about successful products rather than really think about failures.

No company is perfect, but, in general Apple is slow to adopt new technologies and ensures they're ready to use. If they go with facial recognition, I hope they're using that approach here.

 

[Jimmy James]

In the dark does not matter. Ever heard of infrared (invisible light)?

So no go on the obscured head? Common scenario.

 

[Mousesuck]

If they got rid of Touch ID it would NEVER come back. It's the most absurd suggestion.
[doublepost=1502042471][/doublepost]
They aren't concerns, they're facts

Not facts...suppositions.
The worse kind of supposition since you have no idea of how and to what purpouse face recognition will work.

 

[bananas]

Some thoughts about how the FaceID security should work:
- Unlock phone when raised or (virtual) home button is pressed if FaceID matches.
- While opening any app, check if the FaceID still matches.
- Ignore hair or any head gear, basically anything more than 2 inches above eyes
- Adapt to changing facial hair by updating the FaceID "hash" every time it's used.
- Require the user to scan face from all possible angles when initialising the FaceID (first use)

 

[kdarling]

I would imagine the largest problem would be,
... look at the difference between a girl got up from bed in the morning, and the same person, all makeup and hair done for a party. Totally different look.
...yes?

Nope. Facial recog looks at angles and distances between things like your eyes, nose, mouth, chin, forehead, ears, eyebrow ridges, etc.

A face might look very different with makeup, but your eyes and nose don't actually move . Besides, even if it did have trouble, they'd simply have to register both "faces".

As has been noted, reliable recog is not the problem. The problem is, how do you STOP it from unlocking in situations where you'd rather it stayed locked. The easiest solution would be to require a screen touch first. No wait, easiest would be to simply turn the phone face down! D'oh!

 

[Mousesuck]

No Touch ID = NO SALE, no matter how great iPhone 8 is. Face Rec is too intrusive and lacks physical security of Touch ID.

Honestly I don’t think Touch ID will be replaced by face rec...it is just one more feature with some objective that we still don’t grasp...

But, the idea that Digital prints are secure is just that, an idea...

No biometric sensor is secure!

The combination of different biometric sensors is another story.

 

[noone]

There’s no elegant way of building TouchID in so they’ll just scrap it.

I don't see why they couldn't put it in the physical power button. Just make it a combo power/home button with Touch ID.

It'd take some thought and engineering but it could work.

 

[michael31986]

Touch ID could still pop up virtual for you to use tho. No?

 

[Mousesuck]

Let me just say this again.

All one needs to do to unlock your phone is grab your phone point it quickly towards your face and unlock it. My nephew did that to me today and ran off with my phone.

So when your asleep anyone can get in your phone by hovering it less than a second near your face without you ever feeling a thing.

NO TOUCHID = NO SALE

When you are asleep someone can also rest your phone on your thumb and it will unlock...

Are you really that afraid of what your nephew will find in your phone...just don’t invite his parents to your house or give him a gentle kick in the ass.
[doublepost=1502062918][/doublepost]

NAh. I still don't like it. Don't wanna have to scan my face at any angle everytime i wanna unlock my phone or use apple pay. How annoying. Touch id is so much simpler. Why you making it difficult Apple? Just cause you can? If touch ID isnt included on the iphone 8, i have no problem going with the iphone 7s plus instead.

It is almost like you all think Apple, the biggest consumer electronics company in the world, is formed by a couple of incompetent idiots.

For god sake, you won’t have to scan your face from different angles everytime you want to unlock your phone...you will just have to look at it, be the iphone on your hands or on the table, low light condition or not they will use infrared so that doesn’t matter...

At least that is how it seams that face autentication will work!

Also, I don’t believe they will take Touch ID out of the equation.

 

[littyboy]

Guess Apple is regretting creating the HomePod, before even releasing it.

Pretty sure these leaks are intentionally. Too many leaks EVERY year that it's hard to believe they are accidental at this point. And also always "supply constraints". All marketing my friend.

 

[jdillings]

How will you unlock your phone on Halloween?

 

[Mousesuck]

How will you unlock your phone on Halloween?

With the head of the owner as opposite to the much simpler cutted thumb method.

 

[M2M]

Not a fan of face scanning. Prefer Touch ID. Having said that I am sure apple will remove Touch ID as in its own language that fight for space inside a smartphone is one. Removing Touch ID and replacing its function with the camera (which is there anyway) makes them sense under apples point of view.

 

[macsrcool1234]

I feel like this is going to end up with a lot of accidental unlocks. Unless it's got some kind of really good eye tracking.